Groupon’s Andrew Mason demonstrates how to stonewall

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Once he got entrepreneurial, Groupon founder and CEO Andrew Mason had to change his stance onÂ copycatting. What he once consideredÂ plagiarism – after a few years in the wild and woolly world of business –Â he now considers fair game. Sorta.

â€śThey call it competition,â€ť he told conference-goers at All Things Digital in Rancho Palos Verdes.

These days, â€śIâ€™m used to it. Iâ€™m on board,â€ť he said without enthusiasm, while the audience laughed. (Grouponâ€™s online-deal competitors include Living Social.)

The music student-turned-Web entrepreneur also shotÂ interviewer Kara Swisher a series of increasingly stoney looks as she probed insistently about a possible IPO for Groupon, before finally warning her off with the deadpan comment â€śawkwardâ€ť.

Mason can afford to be cavalier about many things these days. A Web and consumer phenom, Groupon has the wherewithal to continue growing at a breakneck pace while fending off suitors — it reportedly told Google and its $6 billion takeover offer to shove off. The company is now rocketing toward what would be, when it finally comes to pass, one of the Internet world’s most-anticipated IPOs.

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Based in Los Angeles, I oversee company news coverage of much of the U.S. West Coast, including such corporations as Apple, Google and Microsoft. Previously, I was bureau chief for Hong Kong and Shanghai and oversaw coverage for all corporations in China and Hong Kong.